Proper Balance

The point: Understand the positive purposes of the Lord's Day to properly interpret and apply its 'do's and don'ts'.

Martin recounts A. Van Zandt's observation that 10,000 Dutch families experienced serious quarreling over Sabbath permissibility, totaling half a million quarrels per year. This illustrates the historical difficulty and preoccupation with 'do's and don'ts' regarding the Sabbath.

Years ago, the Dutch theologian A. Van Zandt wrote that on average, 10,000 families in the Netherlands alone were affected by serious quarreling. About what was and was not permissible on Sunday, by his calculations that made for half a million quarrels per year. And now perhaps that number has greatly decreased by now, since relatively few people even take the fourth commandment seriously enough anymore to argue over it or to debate over it.

4:03 - 4:38 Read in full sermon

The point: Insist that governments allow for a national day of rest for the physical benefit of all, and as individuals, do not ignore God's command to rest on the Lord's Day for your own health and freedom.

Martin quotes Richard Baxter's detailed, rigorous schedule for observing the Lord's Day, including early rising, multiple prayers, family devotions, church attendance, and specific mealtime conversations. This serves as an example of 'hyper-spiritualizing' the Sabbath, which Martin argues could be anything but restful, especially for children.

spiritual eyes. Nothing but praying singing hymns having family devotions discussing theology only things that we might call spiritual is a day of rest yes but only for the purpose of intense spiritual activity not for the purpose simply of rest and of itself consider for example the detailed activities prescribed by the Puritan Richard Baxter for the proper observance of the Lord's day. Now. Now he's not reflective of the teaching of all the Puritans on this subject and and don't misunderstand me I like Richard Baxter there's a lot that he wrote that I think is really really good but I do thi...

13:53 - 15:09 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin clarifies the meaning of 'holy' as 'set apart' using examples like Mount Sinai and special dishes. He then discusses the Old Testament precedent of morning and evening…

Martin uses the analogy of special dishes kept for special occasions (like Easter or Christmas) to explain the meaning of 'holy' to children. This illustrates that 'holy' means 'set apart' for a special purpose, applying it to the Sabbath as a day set apart to God.

Give me an example. Here would be a good example of what you're talking about. The word is even used of inanimate objects. For example, Mount Sinai is called the Holy Mount. And that doesn't mean, in that case, it doesn't mean it's not speaking of moral purity. It's speaking of the Holy Mount. The fact that it's set apart as a special place. You know, for example, here's a mother and she has, we used to have these, have some special dishes that we kept in our cupboard that we only used at special occasions like Easter or Christmas. Well, I've used

43:14 - 44:03 Read in full sermon